Don’t put things off until tomorrow

I often procrastinate on the personal projects I want to accomplish – most times to the point of absurdity. There are goals on some of my lists that literally date back for years.

While it’s bad to keep “to do” items on a list for years, there is an even worse outcome that sometimes happens to me.

For example, if someone wanted to build a tree house for the children there is definitely an expiration date on those kinds of things.

Something came to my attention this week which I hadn’t procrastinated about and turned out to be a good thing.

Those of you who read this column know I’m interested in all kinds of historical minutia. I like to read old newspaper articles and other printed materials, but photographs are my favorite by a slight edge.

A while back I began taking photographs of various places around Wetumpka and some of the surrounding communities in my spare time. It was something I started doing when it struck me how grateful I was to people in the past who bothered to record local images. As part of my self-appointed duty I also share those photos with folks who are interested.

One of the sites I decided to shoot was an old-fashioned whistle mounted on spindly legs perched on the red clay hill at the intersection of U.S. Highway 231 and Boundary Street.

I’ve been told it blew at specific times to signal the mill employees (Dan River Mills) when it was time to report to work, take a lunch break, etc.

I finally got around to photographing the whistle a more than a year ago. I happened to be traveling that direction one Saturday and remembered to stop.

Now I’m glad I did. The whistle is no longer there.

Some utility work has been ongoing in that area for several weeks – trees being cleared out, etc. But the whistle was still there.

I wanted to stop again and get more photos this time without the pine trees in the background.

Alas, I waited too long to get a second set of pictures. I had no idea the whistle tower was going to be removed, but it’s gone this week.

At least I have the photos I took last September. It should be a lesson to me to stop procrastinating on my personal projects so much – maybe I’ll do a little better.

Until next week … and bless your hearts.

Peggy Blackburn is managing editor of The Wetumpka Her­ald and Elmore County Weekend. She can be reached at 334-567-7811. Her email address is peggy.blackburn@TheWetumpkaHerald.com.